I told you I got laid off early part of June. Since then, along with the hundreds of thousands of other marketers looking for work, I’ve occupied my time with networking, updating the resume, filling out career portal applications, researching jobs online, crafting the carefully worded cover letter; in short … looking for the next job. But in between all of this, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the simple pleasures of being a mom. Little things that with my “normal” work-day schedule, I’d taken for granted. Things that I’ve longed for as a working mom, that I’ve often envied in my stay-at-home-mom friends. In short, time.

This summer I’ve had the time to watch my kids play in the pool, vacation with them, go on daytrips, and to the movies. I’ve cooked and baked with them, taken pictures of them, watched them sew, laugh, and scream at each other (the latter I could do without). I was initially pretty upset about my layoff, but as the days passed, so did the anger. I’m no longer bitter. Honest, I’m not. Because this time, I’ve been able to count my blessings. I’ve stopped to accept the fact that though this is not the ideal time to be out of work, this “time” has been given to me as a gift. Not maternity-leave kind of time, because that’s all a blur of sleep deprivation, nursing and diapers, but watch-me-dive, braid-my-hair, come-to-my-soccer-game kind of time. And I’ve loved every minute of it.

They’re back in school in a few days, and I’ll have a renewed focus on my job search. I’ll look for full-time work, but am also going to work on building up my consulting business, www.bellalunamarketing.com. I’m excited about the possibilities and the many things to come!